Category: 13 virtues

Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates

As part of the Plan for Attaining Moral Perfection series, I will be living one of the 13 virtues described by Benjamin Franklin in the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. You can read how all this got started here. This week I’ll be focused on living the virtue of Humility. This is the final virtue. After this, it’s time to rinse and repeat.

If you’re interested in the book that inspired this, it is available for less than $4 including shipping on Amazon. If you buy it through my link, by clicking on the image, I get 14 cents for the referral.

Chastity: Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.

As part of the Plan for Attaining Moral Perfection series, I will be living one of the 13 virtues described by Benjamin Franklin in the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. You can read how all this got started here. This week I’ll be focused on living the virtue of Chastity.

If you’re interested in the book that inspired this, it is available for less than $4 including shipping on Amazon. If you buy it through my link, by clicking on the image, I get 14 cents for the referral.

Tranquillity: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

As part of the Plan for Attaining Moral Perfection series, I will be living one of the 13 virtues described by Benjamin Franklin in the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. You can read how all this got started here. This week I’ll be focused on living the virtue of Tranquillity.

If you’re interested in the book that inspired this, it is available for less than $4 including shipping on Amazon. If you buy it through my link, by clicking on the image, I get 14 cents for the referral.

Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.

As part of the Plan for Attaining Moral Perfection series, I will be living one of the 13 virtues described by Benjamin Franklin in the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. You can read how all this got started here. This week I’ll be focused on living the virtue of Cleanliness.

If you’re interested in the book that inspired this, it is available for less than $4 including shipping on Amazon. If you buy it through my link, by clicking on the image, I get 14 cents for the referral.

Moderation: Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

As part of the Plan for Attaining Moral Perfection series, I will be living one of the 13 virtues described by Benjamin Franklin in the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. You can read how all this got started here. This week I’ll be focused on living the virtue of Moderation.

If you’re interested in the book that inspired this, it is available for less than $4 including shipping on Amazon. If you buy it through my link, by clicking on the image, I get 14 cents for the referral.

Justice: Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are you duty.

As part of the Plan for Attaining Moral Perfection series, I will be living one of the 13 virtues described by Benjamin Franklin in the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. You can read how all this got started here. This week I’ll be focused on living the virtue of Justice.

If you’re interested in the book that inspired this, it is available for less than $4 including shipping on Amazon. If you buy it through my link, by clicking on the image, I get 14 cents for the referral.

Sincerity: use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly.

As part of the Plan for Attaining Moral Perfection series, I will be living one of the 13 virtues described by Benjamin Franklin in the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. You can read how all this got started here. This week I’ll be focused on living the virtue of Sincerity.

Last week, as part of the Industry virtue, I deleted all social applications and reddit from my phone. I haven’t deleted all my accounts, just the applications. It has been a positive change. I found myself spending significantly less time on my phone. I didn’t receive a notification all week other than text messages and phone calls. It is something I am going to continue.

If you’re interested in the book that inspired this, it is available for less than $4 including shipping on Amazon. If you buy it through my link, by clicking on the image, I get 14 cents for the referral.

Industry: Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.

As part of the Plan for Attaining Moral Perfection series, I will be living one of the 13 virtues described by Benjamin Franklin in the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. You can read how all this got started here. This week I’ll be focused on living the virtue of Industry.

Living frugally last week turned out to be a good thing. I saved a lot of money on groceries, pet care, and saved a ton by not going out to restaurants. I chose the cheaper option on just about everything. It’s amazing how many decisions there are throughout the week on where and how to spend money.

This week, I’m going to delete all social applications from my phone. I am constantly checking my phone which is unnecessary. I haven’t gone to the extreme of deleting all my accounts, but I plan to cut off everything unnecessary.

If you’re interested in the book that inspired this, it is available for less than $4 including shipping on Amazon. If you buy it through my link, by clicking on the image, I get 14 cents for the referral.

Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.

As part of the Plan for Attaining Moral Perfection series, I will be living one of the 13 virtues described by Benjamin Franklin in the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. You can read how all this got started here. This week I’ll be focused on living the virtue of Frugality.

Last week’s virtue was Resolution. As part of this exercise, I resolved to finally get to some of the items that have been on my todo list for a long time. One of the older, but important tasks was doing something with my old 401K accounts. There are lots of ways to “do something” with those accounts. Perhaps my todo list item should have been a little more clear. It’s difficult to figure out the correct next action for “do something”. Depending on who you ask, there are several correct ways to accomplish this. I’m choosing the easiest and minimalist approach of transferring my old accounts to my current employer’s plan. Feel free to tell me why I’m an idiot for doing this in the comments.

To do this, there is a lot of process. First, you need to make sure your address is up to date with all the old accounts. This takes up to 10 business days in some cases. Second, you need to request a transfer check to be mailed to your address. In my case, the check must be made out to a very specific bank and include my social security number on it, which is against policy of my previous employer’s accounts. At that point, there is some paper work to do, and the check can then be mailed back out with my elections on where to invest the money. During resolution week, I got the process started, and have some checks in the mail. We’ll see how it all turns out.

I’ll start this week’s virtue in a couple of minutes by shopping at the less expensive grocery store, only buying what we absolutely need and purchasing the cheapest items. Lately, I’ve been shopping at the more expensive place, buying organic when available, and usually going to the store when hungry which leads to a lot of impulse buying. This has also been a negative impact on the family’s grocery budget.

If you’re interested in the book that inspired this, it is available for less than $4 including shipping on Amazon. If you buy it through my link, by clicking on the image, I get 14 cents for the referral.

Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.

As part of the Plan for Attaining Moral Perfection series, I will be living one of the 13 virtues described by Benjamin Franklin in the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. You can read how all this got started here. This week I’ll be focused on living the virtue of Resolution.

If you’re interested in the book that inspired this, it is available for less than $4 including shipping on Amazon. If you buy it through my link, by clicking on the image, I get 14 cents for the referral.